Coven

Summary: Take a time machine to the early days of the Winchesters' epic journey. Looking for a good night's sleep, the boys follow clues in John's journal to the Rocky Mountains and into witch trouble.

Chapter 1

If not for the burn deep in his
thighs and calves, Sam wouldn't feel his legs at all. He trudges through snow,
hands and feet aching with cold, compelled against his better judgment,
against his will toward the things in the tree.

Clouds part, he hesitates, blinking.
A sense of dread chills him deeper than the frigid wind.

Too big to be birds. Maybe cloth snagged in the thorns? His imagination churns looking for any mundane possibility.

Sam stumbles on. The jagged roof of a
stone building comes into view. It's sunken in a dark hollow, untouched by the
moon’s glow.

How the hell did I get out here?

Ten feet from the tree, dread
tightens his belly. He falters. Not birds perched on the branches. It's
bodies. Human bodies!

Stop! God, just turn around!

Five feet away.

Nooses around the necks of the still
figures make his throat tighten. Blackened faces sag like melted wax, skin
wrinkled and frozen. He lurches toward the lowest body whispering, "Don't,
don't" on each ragged breath.

Its eyes fly open; the mouth
stretches in a vicious snarl. The body twists on the rope. Icy hands grip his
shoulders.

He screams…

Sam woke lunging from the bed. The
scream that had started in the nightmare trickled out as a whimper. Heart
racing, his eyes darted around the room.

Cheap floral bedspread.

Cigarette burns on mud brown carpet.

Sun slanting in through dusty
slats... another motel room.

The smell of cold pizza and mildew
brought his heart rate down. He released his death grip on the bedspread and sat
up.

Their father's leather-bound journal
and papers were strewn across the battered motel desk in front of Dean. His
leonine frame was molded to the rickety chair, but the relaxed pose didn't quite
reach his eyes.

"That's the third nightmare this week," he said
quietly. "Is it Jess?"

"No," Sam said, hoping
that would end the conversation. He scrubbed at his face and ran his hands
through dark, tangled hair. "Man, is it cold in here?"

Dean reached for the back of the
room's second chair and tossed Sam his worn, gray sweatshirt, the words
"Stanford Athletic Dept," barely visible across the chest.

Sam wearily pulled it on. He winced
as an ache shot through his shoulders where the dead man's hands had…Damn,
it was just a dream!

"Tell me," Dean insisted.
He was sick of trying to pretend he didn't see the circles under his brother's
eyes darken by the hour.

"Forget it. It's nothing,"
Sam said, hoping it was true.

Dean stood quickly and nearly tipped
the chair over. He wanted to fix this; it's what he did. He fought to keep his
voice even, "Look, you're having a little denial trouble,
Sammy."

Sam frowned. "Don't call me
Sammy."

Dean leaned over the bed, "Big
'D', DENIAL! Let's accept that you're getting messages from the great
beyond." He waved his hands dramatically at the ceiling. "Or you're
cursed. Whatever! Let's assume that these nightmares are popping into your head
for a reason. You can't ignore them. You wake up screaming every night so I
sure as hell can't ignore them!"

Dean caught and held Sam's eyes.
He'd gotten used to the haunted anger in them since Jessica. It was the fear
and uncertainty in them now that made him back off. God, he's really freaked.

Dean sighed and called up a little
more patience. "Humor me. Please."

Sam tried to muster up another round
of the "big D". He didn't have time for self-pity; stupid,
unprofitable why me's and what if's, but this morning shoulders
aching, eyes burning, he felt he deserved a good wallow. He glanced up at his
brother. Half formed arguments died on his lips. He huffed out a breath in
defeat.

"Fine.”

"Fine, just lay it
out." Dean dropped into his chair and molded himself into a comfortable
position again.

Sam reluctantly let his thoughts
return to the nightmare. He drew a shaky breath. "It's cold, night.
Moonlight's reflecting off about a foot of snow. I'm trudging through the
stuff, no gear." He hesitated, shying away from the image of the things in
the tree. "I come to an old stone building…a church or a school maybe.
It's too dark to see."

Dean raised his eyebrows, waited.

"There's a tree on top of this
hill in front of the building. Three…" Sam struggled for the right word.
"…things are hanging from it. At first I think they might be big, black
birds perched up there, but when I get closer I see that they're
people...hanging."

Dean tipped his head and mimed
tightening a noose around his neck.

"Yeah. Suddenly I'm right there
next to the lowest one and it…" Sam stopped; swallowed the lump in his
throat.

"Wakes up?" Dean supplied gently.

"Yeah," Sam said, rubbing
one shoulder, "And he's not happy."

"Then you wake up in a
cold sweat. I'm familiar with that part."

"Right."

Sam was surprised to find that
getting the dream out of his head and hung out to air between them in the dingy
motel room did help. After three years apart, he had to admit, it was
good to be back with Dean.

"Ok. Do you have any idea where
you are in the dream? Any details that could tell us anything?"

Sam raked his fingers through sweaty
hair, "There's a lot of snow. Could be mountains. The terrain is pretty
steep."

"Mountains, huh? That's
somethin'." Dean turned back to the desk and their father's journal.
"Dad's got a couple of entries in Colorado or Wyoming…somewhere in the
Rockies." He turned pages thoughtfully; searching for the entries he
remembered. Their father's well-worn leather journal was full of hastily
scribbled notes, counter-measures against hundreds of things that go bump in
the night. Strapped closed, it could barely hold twenty years of incidents,
sightings, and disappearances.

Dean recognized an entry. "Here
we go. I ran across this the other night. You remember, oh…five or six years
ago, Dad spent a week, maybe more in Colorado Springs?" He shifted the
book to the edge of the desk.

Sam moved down to sit on the end of
the bed for a better view, "Uh, barely. At least I don't remember being
debriefed about whatever happened there."

"Yeah, me neither. Listen to
this," Dean read from a newspaper clipping carefully folded and taped into
the book. "Ritual Human Sacrifice in Colorado Springs, Police rout a
witches' coven calling itself the Order of the Nine suspected in the deaths and
disappearances of several people over the past decade in Colorado
Springs." Dean pounded a fist on the desk. "Come on! Dad was checkin'
out something this big, came home, and we didn't get a crash course on witch
burning?"

"Doesn't sound right," Sam
agreed edging closer. He dragged the gaudy floral bed spread with him and
wrapped it around his shoulders trying to beat the bone deep chills still
making him shiver.

Dean skimmed the article.
"Let's see… arresting officers…yada, yada, yada…They caught six
coven members in an abandoned church in downtown Colorado Springs...Stopped 'em
right in the middle of a ritual. The three leaders were still at large, as of
…" He checked the date of the newspaper, "October thirty-first,
two-thousand. Wild Halloween party." He paused. "You said three dead
guys in the tree, right?"

"Yeah, but not so dead."
Sam reached for the journal. "Let me see that."

Dean passed him the book and watched
his brother's face as he read. The circles under Sam's eyes had
deepened. His shoulders under the motel bedspread bowed as if gravity around
him was a little heavier than everywhere else. His cheeks looked hollow, his skin
even more pale than usual. A stubble of dark brown beard smudged his jaw line.

Dean frowned. I might as well
start clucking. Mother hen much?

But Dean could count the things he
considered essential to his existence on one hand. His dad and Sam were the
first two. He'd been hunting for too long; knew too well what could happen to
take anyone he cared about for granted. He fought dueling urges: first to sweep
Sam into a hug and hold on to him till the nightmares went away, second, to
throw his little brother across the room and beat that psychic crap out of him
once and for all. Tough choice.

"According to this article, the
members of the coven were into some pretty twisted stuff," Sam said,
interrupting Dean before he could make up his mind. "I can't figure out
why he didn't drill us on every detail of the job, especially if he never
caught up with the last three." Sam pointed to a line in the journal,
"Look at these names, Nysrogh, Vetis, Ormias."

"Don't know 'em. Sound demonic
though." Dean leaned in to read the unfamiliar words. He worked through
the names; getting a feel for the odd sound of each one and immediately
regretted the effort. They gave him the same dirty, repulsive feeling he got
from hearing some jerk use the "N" word.

"Then look at this," Sam
said. He pushed the book toward his brother pointing to the words written below
the paragraph and underlined twice in their father's jagged script.

Not Sam.

"Huh," Dean huffed,
eyebrows raised.

Sam shrugged. "No idea."

Again they sat in silence,
considering everything revealed in notebook and nightmare; attempting to fit
the pieces into some logical pattern.

"Aaaaah." Dean stood and
stretched muscles gone stiff first from keeping watch over Sam's sleep then
from sitting bent over the book. "Maybe it’s a different Sam." He
raised his arms, arching his back with a groan. "But, we're only, maybe,
three hundred miles from Colorado Springs. We have to check this out."

Dean barked out a laugh, and then
turned incredulous eyes on his brother, "Normal? Sam, come on…" Dean
spread his arms and invited Sam to look around the room; around their lives and
show him where the normal part was.

"Ok, ok," Sam muttered,
reluctantly allowing a grin as he stood up. "Let's get out of here."

It was past noon by the time they
packed up. With the sun high, nothing but miles of flatland to cover and Dean
driving, they'd make nearly supernatural speed toward the Colorado border.

Sam fought to stay awake, but the
Impala's leather bucket seats cradled his backside way too comfortably. For
years, one of his favorite things in the world had been to read a book till he
drifted off to sleep in the car.

He knew exactly when the thought of
drifting off for an hour had begun to make his palms sweat. Damn, he was so
tired, and tired of it.

"Sam…Sam."

Sam woke with a gasp and grabbed for
the hand gripping his shoulder. He automatically jabbed a thumb against a
pressure point in the wrist and twisted.

MegaRogueLegend666:
I love this story so much. It's impossible to describe my excitement with each new chapter in words. The author has such a good writing style, very good descriptions of the fighting and character descriptions/emotions. the plot is also amazing! This fanfic could be a side anime show or novel ......

_JosephJacobson_:
I don't understand why this has such low ratings. I really enjoyed it!I think that the whole idea behind the plot had something very special and that was something that I really enjoyed. It was new, unique. I think that some of the writing was a little strange in places but overall it made sense ...

Laz. R. Gray:
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Hawkebat:
Playing both Kotor I & II and Swtor I found the story line interesting and it held me until chapter 35 Very good story and plot flow until then, very few technical errors. I felt that the main character was a bit under and over powered, as it fought for balance. The last few chapters felt too f...

MavisMcQueen:
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dd1226:
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CookieMonster911:
The story overall was an adventure that is appealing to any age. The way the characters develop adds a more human characteristic to the novel. The writing style itself is amazing because you can learn every character's thoughts and emotions. The awkward love triangle and jerk moments adds to the ...

JWalker:
I loved this story from start to finish! It flows at a really nice pace and the story world feels so real. The fight sequences are a treat especially when Isanfyre is training to become a warrior. I found the names really cool and thankfully easy to pronounce. Personally I have always struggled w...

Felisa Yoder Osburn:
I really enjoyed the story. Civil War stories are some of my favorites and the intertwining of the past with current times was wonderful. I look forward to reading the next stories.

makaylakay:
I love love this story! It's written incredibly and well thought-out plot! I love how it's a different twist in fantasy fiction, other then the usual vampire or werewolves. Love the romantics and drawn to the two characters so much already! This book will draw you in within the first chapter and ...

Jordan Young:
*ALERT FOR POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Where to start? I don't know how to sum up this review, this story was absolutely sensational. Brilliant. Flawless. I loved every single bit of this story, it is truly amazing. I read this story in fifteen hours, it is magnificent. I loved everything about it, the p...